A Response to Rachel’s Post – The Nation’s Weekly Mass: Hockey Night in Canada

http://gospelaccordingtobuddychrist.blogspot.ca/2012/03/nations-weekly-mass-hockey-night-in.html

Rachel argues that outside the relationship between economics of sport and religiosity, sport in a sense, serves to recreate “religious experiences” and teaches “religious values”. The economics of sport in a sense taints the positive benefits that sport can offer to the player and to the greater community. I agree that sport can function to teach children and youth basic ‘life’ skills and that sport has positive benefits with regards to teaching religious values and recreating religious experiences. I am also a strong supporter of sport and the benefits it has not only in helping children around the world but also in helping the community that supports a particular team.

You mentioned the economics in professional sport, but there are also other examples of the economic impact in other areas of sport. Not only have the economics of sport infiltrated the professional realm, but also over the years, it has increasingly crept into the realm of amateur sport, specifically the NCAA. The beauty of amateur sport is that it celebrates the purity of sport – sport without a price tag or a salary. It is the celebration of athletic talent and of athletic quality. There are have been numerous cases of professional teams bribing college players and universities bribing high school students with monetary and other incentives for recruiting purposes. The notion of the “commodification of sport amateurism” is an interesting topic that is currently being discussed and debated.

That being said, I would like to play devil’s advocate, and say that despite its positive benefits, the tendency for fans and players to regard sport, as religion, is a cause for increased violence, both on and off the field of play. For Canadians, hockey is ‘our game’, ‘a way of life’, and a ‘religion’. For Europeans, the same can be said for soccer. However, are fans taking the game too seriously? I mean, it is just a game, right? I feel that sometimes fans and players lose sight of the fact that sport is ‘just a game’. We see evidence of fans taking the game too seriously in Canada, for example, with the notorious Vancouver riot - estimated damages were roughly 4.2 million dollars. Riots, brutality, and even death, are a common occurrence in Europe and in parts of South America after soccer matches. The show “Football Factories” strictly deals with a host and his cameraman as they travel and document soccer violence in some of the most hostile stadiums in the world. Why so much violence? Soccer fans consider their team and the sport of soccer to be religion/having religious qualities, which allow them to engage in and feel ‘religious’ emotions.